Constantly reboots in normal mode, OK in safe

[Mike]

I'm working on a friends computer. He was using Win98 on a bad HDD,
and we replaced the HDD (40G Western Digital) and installed Win2000
Professional. Now, every time I boot into normal mode, it will run
fine for a little while then just... reboot.

If I boot into safe mode, it's OK, which implies that it's a driver
conflict somewhere. But this is a very clean 2000 install, with
absolutely no software except what came with the OS. I've literally
replaced every piece of hardware, and have the same problem, so I'm a
bit lost.

The things I've replaced are: power supply, mother board (with onboard
video card), CPU, and disconnected everything except the power supply
and hard drive. I even tried new cables, with no effect. I haven't
replaced the RAM because this mobo takes a different type than my PC,
and I'm hesitant to buy new unless I'm certain that's the problem.

Is there anything specific about 2000 Pro that would cause this?

TIA,

Mike

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I'm working on a friends computer. He was using Win98 on a bad HDD,
and we replaced the HDD (40G Western Digital) and installed Win2000
Professional. Now, every time I boot into normal mode, it will run
fine for a little while then just... reboot.

If I boot into safe mode, it's OK, which implies that it's a driver
conflict somewhere. But this is a very clean 2000 install, with
absolutely no software except what came with the OS. I've literally
replaced every piece of hardware, and have the same problem, so I'm a
bit lost.

The things I've replaced are: power supply, mother board (with onboard
video card), CPU, and disconnected everything except the power supply
and hard drive. I even tried new cables, with no effect. I haven't
replaced the RAM because this mobo takes a different type than my PC,
and I'm hesitant to buy new unless I'm certain that's the problem.

Is there anything specific about 2000 Pro that would cause this?

TIA,

Mike

I strongly suspect that this is a hardware problem. I would confirm
it by booting the machine with a Bart WinXP CD, and letting it run
for a while. You can download the tool for this CD freely from
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download. You also need a WinXP
Professional CD, and a CD burner. You could borrow the WinXP
CD from a friend, since you're not going to install it (hence you're
not using any licence key).

 

[Mike]

I'm working on a friends computer. He was using Win98 on a bad HDD,

I strongly suspect that this is a hardware problem. I would confirm
it by booting the machine with a Bart WinXP CD, and letting it run
for a while. You can download the tool for this CD freely from
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download. You also need a WinXP
Professional CD, and a CD burner. You could borrow the WinXP
CD from a friend, since you're not going to install it (hence you're
not using any licence key).

Just in case anyone is following this thread, I have an update. After
replacing literally everything in the machine, I resorted to putting
in a different hard drive that had Win98 installed. I was surprised
when this fixed the problem.

On a hunch, I reinstalled the 40G HDD and installed Win98. It's been a
week now, and it hasn't had a problem since.

Even though everything about the PC met the minimum requirements for
Win2000, I'm guessing that there was something about it that Compaq
didn't like. But for whatever reason, installing Win98 seemed to solve
the problem (or, at least, the symptom).

Thanks for the help,

Mike